Category: Commentary

Abbot John Klassen: Why the name ‘Francis’ matters

Bridgefolk perspectives on Pope Francis

What’s in a name?  Well, we are pretty sophisticated listeners and watchers these days and realize that a name, whether for a commercial product such as a deodorant or a car, matters hugely.  When a Pope-elect announces what he is to be called, it is a first signal as to how he understands what he will do as pontiff.  Thus, John Paul I and John Paul II were signaling that they saw their pontificates in relationship to the work of John XXIII and Paul VI.  Benedict wished to express his concern for the message of the Gospel in Europe and followed in the footsteps of Pope Benedict XV, who was noted for his peacemaking efforts during the Great War of 1914-1918.

I have heard a story that when Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was still in the Sistine Chapel, immediately following the election, a cardinal next to him said, “Whatever you do, don’t forget the poor!”  In that moment, Cardinal Bergoglio knew that his name was to be ‘Francis.’

By choosing the name Francis (after Francis of Assisi) the Pope evokes the spirit of a saint who is beloved and admired by all Christians.  The name Francis is associated with humility, simplicity, compassion, keeping the Gospel in focus at all times, always watching out for the poor.  In the early days of his pontificate, Pope Francis is taking the name seriously: by stepping away from the trappings of the papacy, by going to a prison for young people to wash the feet of young women and men, Christian and Muslim, and by reaching out to ordinary people.

Any one of us could list ten things Pope Francis needs to do!  Right now!  Before all else, in the spirit of Saint Francis, he needs to witness to the simplicity, compassion, and integrity of Jesus in the Gospels.

John Klassen, OSB is Abbot of Saint John’s Abbey and Co-Chair of Bridgefolk.

Gerald Schlabach reflects on religious freedom in Commonweal magazine

An article by former Bridgefolk director Gerald Schlabach on religious freedom appears in the current issue of Commonweal magazine.  The article, “Outvoted, Not Persecuted: Four Lessons about Religious Freedom” takes the experience of Mennonites, historic peace churches, and other minority churches into debates among American Catholics about whether their religious liberties are being threatened.

The full article is available for Commonweal subscribers at http://www.commonwealmagazine.org/outvoted-not-persecuted, but the following excerpts convey the arc of Schlabach’s argument:   Continue reading “Gerald Schlabach reflects on religious freedom in Commonweal magazine” →

Michael Turman reflects on experiencing “double eucharist”

Mennonite and Catholic communion
Reflections on an experience at the Bridgefolk conference

article by Michael Turman
in Canadian Mennonite Young Voices 

Michael Turman

I had an experience of God’s presence at St. Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph, Minnesota, in July at the Bridgefolk conference. “Bridgefolk is a movement of sacramentally-minded Mennonites and peace-minded Catholics,” says its mission statement. Every year Bridgefolk holds a gathering of Mennonites and Catholics to celebrate, explore, and honour each others’ practices and traditions. In practice this happens through friendship and open discussion of shared values. Over the ten or so years that Bridgefolk has been meeting, a committed group has formed. Even though I was attending for the first time, it felt like a family reunion.

In some way, I was among family. The Mennonite and Catholic churches are both like home to me. As the eldest child of a Mennonite and Catholic marriage, I was raised in both churches. I learned the mystery and holiness of the sacraments of baptism and communion from the Catholics and I learned the holy joy of four-part hymn singing and the sacred value of community (and potlucks!) from the Mennonites. I have been spiritually sustained at times both by praying the rosary and by volunteering for Mennonite Central Committee.

With such committed, faithful Christians on both sides of my church family, why must we be Mennonites and Catholics? Why shouldn’t the two churches learn from each other? Continue reading “Michael Turman reflects on experiencing “double eucharist”” →

Salvation and peace: bridging another divide

An artificial divide

by Darrin Snyder Belousek

[The following article by Bridgefolk’s Executive Director appeared recently in PeaceSigns, the online magazine of the Mennonite Church USA Peace and Justice Support Network]

 

There were several things that attracted me to the Mennonite-Christian tradition-discipleship, community, simplicity, service, and, of course, peace. In my fifteen years among the Mennonites, however, I have observed two disconcerting tendencies in the Mennonite peace ethic.

First, too often we practice peacemaking as if peace were the fruit of our good intentions and hard work. We thus neglect two things: the reality of the persistence of sin in ourselves and our world despite our best intentions, and the need for divine grace to sustain the spiritual fertility of human effort. Consequently, Mennonite peace activism can often be a cause of frustration (when our intentions falter) or an occasion for pride (when our efforts “succeed”).

Second, too often we think and talk about peace in ways that reflect our national contexts and reveal our political commitments. We thus forget two things: that our hope for peace is to be set on God’s purposes for the world, and that our commitment to peace is to be aligned with the priorities of God’s kingdom. Consequently, Mennonite peace rhetoric can often be hardly distinguishable from a national “peacekeeper” identity (Canada) or a left-wing partisan agenda (United States).

Ivan Kauffman surveys 50 years of Mennonite-Catholic dialogue

Earlier this month Bridgefolk co-founder Ivan Kauffman spoke at Assembly Mennonite Church in Goshen, Indiana.  His talk offers a succinct overview of how Mennonite-Catholic dialogue has unfolded in the last 50 years. 

Called Together to Be Peacemakers
Mennonite Catholic Dialogue 1962-2012

Ivan J. Kauffman
Assembly Mennonite Church
Goshen, Indiana
July 8, 2012

It has been said we over-estimate what can be changed in one year, and under-estimate what can be changed in ten years. My life experience confirms that. But I would add that we can not even imagine the change that can take place in 50 years.

When the Second Vatican Council opened 50 years ago this October I was a student at Goshen College, at a time when Carl Kreider was still wearing a plain coat, and Mary Oyer was still wearing a covering. None of us then had any idea this event would affect us—that it would permanently change relationships between Mennonites and Catholics and launch us into a new era in the Church’s peace witness—but that is what has happened.

I could keep us here for hours telling stories about how this happened but I will briefly mention only a few. Continue reading “Ivan Kauffman surveys 50 years of Mennonite-Catholic dialogue” →

The anguish of imperfect communion

by Julia Smucker

(Our friends at the Ekklesia Project recently posted the following reflection by Julia Smucker on Bridgefolk experiences with the challenge of sharing communion.) 

For about the past five years, I have been a participant in the Mennonite/Catholic ecumenical movement known as Bridgefolk – first as a Mennonite drawn toward communion with the Catholic Church but also strongly connected to my ecclesial heritage, and now as a Catholic seeking to maintain that connection with the church that formed me.  I had agonized over the choice I was presented with in the unavoidable reality that joining with one communion would mean breaking with another, and wondered whether I could do so without it being tantamount to a rejection, a cutting off of my roots.  And then I discovered a group of people who had been agonizing over this division for years before me.  Continue reading “The anguish of imperfect communion” →

“Spirituality versus Religion: Or maybe it’s not new….” commentary by Jana Bennett

Current debates over “traditional religion” sometimes track partially with ecumenical dialogue between Mennonites and Catholics.  The following blog by University of Dayton theology professor Jana Bennett may therefore be of interest to Bridgefolk.  

I’ve been reading a lot lately around the blogosphere from people who find themselves at odds with “traditional Christianity,” by which seems to be meant “the version of Christianity I grew up with.”  One of the most interesting is here at Rachel Held Evans’ blog: Kim Van Brunt describes leaving traditional worship services, in part because she felt the traditions themselves – the bulletins and Wednesday night prayer services and so on – were stilting her family’s ability to hear and live the gospel.  Many of the commenters complained that she seemed to be advocating a church of one, an individual’s paradisaical version of Christ’s body – so before readers here jump to that conclusion, let me just say that in her own response to the comments, she now belongs to what would probably be called a “house church” – an informal gathering of people meeting to support and witness to each other.

There are others feeling compressed by “tradition”.  One of the big ones, of course, is the viral video “Why I Hate Religion but Love Jesus” which was followed up with numerous posts about being spiritual but not religious.  In another vein, there have been Catholics thinking through the contraception debates in relation to feeling like the “hierarchy”.  In still another vein, members of the “emergent church” who feel that “traditional” forms of Christianity are increasingly irrelevant.   Continue reading ““Spirituality versus Religion: Or maybe it’s not new….” commentary by Jana Bennett” →

Advent issue of The Mennonite features cover story on Mary

For Advent this year, the cover story for the December issue of The Mennonite asks how Mennonites should think of Mary as “model and mother.”  A related article reflects on Mary’s Magnificat, and two poems portray the role of Joseph and Elizabeth in the drama of Jesus’ birth.  Another article, by Bridgefolk board member Darrin Snyder Belousek, recounts his story of returning to faith through friendship with Roman Catholics.   The Mennonite is the official denominational magazine of Mennonite Church USA.

Click here to access the December issue of The Mennonite.